An Indian drug giant, little-known outside the vaccine world, has agreed to make and distribute a billion doses of a yet-to-be approved coronavirus vaccine -- a move aimed at providing pandemic protection to the world's poorest.

SimiGon to provide training systems for JSF Lockheed Martin: The systems will be delivered over the lifespan of the JSF program. Tali Tsipori 10 Jul 07 19:04 SimiGon Ltd. (AIM:SIM) will provide the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) training program with the company’s NxLearn Learning Management System, based on its learning framework, SIMbox. NxLearn will be an integral part of the JSF training system and is one element of NxSys, a Lockheed Martin Inc. (NYSE: LMT) integrated training system infrastructure. SimiGon president and CEO Ami Vizer said, "Lockheed Martin's use of our SIMbox technology for its NxLearn program is a significant milestone in SimiGon's development and provides yet another affirmation of the viability of our training solutions. Using SIMbox's technology extends the long-term productive relationship enjoyed between Lockheed Martin and SimiGon.”

SimiGon said that Lockheed Martin anticipates that F-35 training systems will be delivered over the lifespan of the JSF program. The F-35 is a supersonic, multi-role, 5th generation stealth fighter designed to replace a wide range of existing aircraft, including AV-8B Harriers, A-10s, F-16s, F/A-18 Hornets and United Kingdom Harrier GR.7s and Sea Harriers.

“Globes”: What characterizes the JSF program?

Vizer: “This is the world’s largest combat jet program. The usual production run for a combat plane is 500 to 1,000 units throughout the plane’s life cycle. In the case of the F-35, there are already orders for 4,500 planes, which will be flown by 6,000 pilots.

“In addition, eight countries are participating in the JSF program, including the US, UK, the Netherlands, and Turkey. They are all buying F-35s from Lockheed Martin, so any decision touching on the program is relevant for all the countries involved.”

How will winning the tender affect your revenue?

“I prefer not to give specific numbers, but at the program’s outset, we’ll sell 150-250 systems. Each system costs $400,000, of which we’ll get $100,000 up front, and $300,000 spread over 20 years. Therefore, assuming that we’ll sell 200 systems, the initial revenue will total $20 million and the balance will be $60 million.”

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 10, 2007